Carwyn Jones the Betrayer

Just over six months ago, in early November, the world must have looked a very pleasant place to Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales.

For he’d reached the top of the pile; he was leader of Labour Party in Wales, the Assembly and, by extension, Wales itself, which he managed on behalf of the London government.

This allowed him to puff and posture – at which he is most adept – as if he was the beloved leader of some newly emerged country. It may not have been carpets of rose petals greeting every public appearance but most people thought him a decent enough fellow even if they disagreed with his politics.

Plaid Cymru certainly trusted him enough to continue the coalition it had negotiated with his predecessor Rhodri Morgan and, when that coalition ended in 2011, to continue supporting the Labour Party on almost all crucial votes.

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For was he not a worthy successor to Rhodri Morgan, and a trusted custodian of Ron Davies’s ‘process’? Did he not inherit the mantle of Aneurin Bevan and yet also represent twenty-first century Labour? Was he not known to the Cymric masses simply as ‘Carwyn’? Did he not love his rugby, and a good pint? Was he not therefore a ‘Tidy bloke, mun’.

So assured of his authority was this master mariner on the clear red water, so cloudless was his horizon, that one day, and quite suddenly, he broke off from thinking of names he might adopt when he was ennobled (as he most assuredly would be).

For under malign influences he decided to exercise his authority with a reshuffle of his cabinet. Which is when the clouds started gathering for Carwyn Jones.

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CARL SARGEANT

On Friday November 3rd the reshuffle was announced, and among those dumped from the cabinet was Carl Sargeant, until then Secretary for Communities and Children. Sargeant was also suspended from the party over allegations of improper behaviour towards women. Allegations that were never explained to the accused man. Four days later Sargeant was found dead at his Flintshire home. It was suicide.

Soon the news emerged that politicians and journalists had known of Sargeant’s removal before the man himself was informed. These leaks were due to the incestuous relationship Carwyn Jones’s staff has with public affairs agency Deryn Consulting and others.

As I made clear in an earlier post, Sargeant was, like us all, a flawed human being, but the allegations that got him sacked were concocted within a loose network of wimmin extending from Cardiff Bay into the third sector and other poisonous environments wherein may be found self-styled ‘progressives’. These creatures, of assorted sexual proclivities and identifications, call themselves feminists, but this is just a cover to play mind games, mess up people’s lives, and destroy careers.

Many of them are the same females responsible for similar lies told about AM Neil McEvoy.

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In the Alyn and Deeside by-election held on February 6th Carl Sargeant’s son, Jack, unsurprisingly retained the seat for Labour. Jeremy Corbyn, the UK Labour leader, visited the constituency, but not Carwyn Jones, who had been warned by Sargeant’s family and friends to stay away.

Since then Carwyn Jones has fought to keep the evidence from emerging which would prove that a) the allegations providing the excuse to sack Sargeant were without foundation, and b) the news of Sargeant’s sacking was leaked from his office.

Jones has already announced his retirement as leader of the party with a leadership contest now under way that, if nothing else, exposes the paucity of talent in Plaid Tlodi (Poverty Party).

The conspiracy that led to the death of Carl Sargeant and the subsequent cover-up have reminded us what a repulsive milieu devolution has created in Cardiff Bay.

A little world unto itself in which unelected and unaccountable people influence politicians and policy making; where people flit between politics, third sector bodies and PR companies as if they are moving between different parts of the Welsh body politic. Which unfortunately they are.

And yet, politicians, especially of left-leaning parties, delight in this arrangement, they relish the advantages of having allies beyond the Assembly chamber who can be used to attack anyone they want attacked, even in their own party. Carl Sargeant was a victim of this system.

Carwyn Jones has sat, like a big fat spider, at the heart of this web of whispers and back-stabbing, enjoying its benefits, for almost a decade. We can but hope that justice will now be served, for Carl Sargeant and for Wales.

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PRINCE OF WALES BRIDGE

The first most of us knew about the decision to rename the Second Severn Crossing the Prince of Wales Bridge came on April 5th with an announcement from our small but perfectly formed Secretary of State, Alun Cairns.

The reaction was swift and almost universally hostile. A petition was started which raised over 38,000 signatures. But what did Carwyn Jones have to say on the matter?

When pressed, the response from a ‘Welsh’ Government spokesman was: “Alun Cairns wrote to the FM about the naming of the bridge last year and we didn’t raise any objections.” So we were asked to believe that Carwyn Jones had simply gone along with the idea, perhaps reluctantly accepting it as a fait accompli.

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But then, in response to a FoI request from BBC Wales, we learnt that far from merely acquiescing to this squalid bit of sycophancy he had replied to Cairns: “I welcome the idea to rename the crossing the Prince of Wales Bridge . . . I stand by to be involved in the official renaming ceremony . . . I would be grateful if your officials could liaise with my Diary Secretary on the arrangements for the ceremony”.

The fat spider was jumping up and down with excitement!

(Should he call himself Lord Prince of Wales Bridge? Or had that little bastard Cairns booked the title for himself? Never mind . . . it would be a wonderful day, the sun would shine, thousands of people would turn out to wave and cheer. Then he could wind down to a cushy retirement, Father of the Nation status, peerage, memoirs, film rights . . . )

With this episode, the reputation of Carwyn Howell Jones unravels a little more. It exposes him yet again as a scheming, self-serving, two-faced politician.

But so quintessentially Labour.

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BREXIT DEAL

One of the fall-outs from the June 2016 vote to leave the EU was that the UK government sought to hang onto powers that would be ‘repatriated’ from the EU, powers that should be devolved to Scotland and Wales. Initially, there was united opposition to this move from Scotland and Wales.

Carwyn Jones swore to be Nicola Sturgeon’s bestest friend and staunchest ally. Though as a great admirer of Sturgeon I’m sure she realised early on that once he’d had his little fit of bravado, once he could claim to have won ‘concessions’ from London, he would do what everyone knew he’d do before the curtain went up – surrender.

‘Nae fond kiss, and then we sever’

For Carwyn Jones is good at showboating, good at sniping and bullying; but beneath it all he’s a lazy, thin-skinned man of straw.

Even so, Carwyn Jones might have got away with his surrender to London were it not for the fact that his boss, UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, fatally undermined him by supporting Scottish Labour’s support for the SNP Government against what Corbyn quite unambiguously described as a “Whitehall power grab“.

Added to the egg from the bridge disclosure Corbyn’s intervention now gave us the makings of a family-sized omelette on the Jones visage.

And not for the first time we have the Labour Party in different parts of the island saying different things. Reminding us that Labour is often vociferous and principled on certain matters . . . when it’s in opposition. When in power it tends to forget the promises it made when in opposition.

For example, it’s official UK Labour policy to do away with zero-hour contracts, but in Wales Labour has refused seven times to implement Labour Party policy. The word is hypocrisy.

So quintessentially Labour.

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CONCLUSION

Plaid Tlodi might seem to be in a very strange place at the moment, and yet, there’s nothing really strange about it when you realise this is how it must be when a devolved system of government is managed by a party unenthusiastic about devolution and unwilling to make it work lest it stirs unwelcome passions.

Which leaves Labour in the impossible position of telling us it’s ‘defending Wales’ while opposing anything that might make Wales a better country, for that would involve legislation that would make Wales too different from England.

Then there is the added incentive that the poorer Wales is the more votes that are piled up for Labour – but only for as long as enough voters are stupid enough to blame the Tories for all Wales’ woes.

It’s all done to confuse, but lately Labour seems to be confusing itself.

Which might explain why we were recently treated to the bizarre spectacle of Labour MP for Llanelli Nia Griffith and her AM counterpart Barry Lee Waters protesting against the downgrading of the town’s hospital – in other words, protesting against their own party!

‘Will they fall for it?’

But there can be no confusion about the general direction of travel since Brexit made it clear to Labour that a majority of its supporters are, to varying degrees, xenophobes, and that these greatly outnumber the combined hard left, ‘Islington’ and ethnic minority votes. Resulting in a split party.

Without stretching things too far a comparison can be made with the Democratic Party in the USA in the 1960s and ’70s. Embittered Southern whites had voted Democrat for a century after the Civil War because Lincoln had been a Republican; which found them in the same party as liberals, ethnic minorities, hippies and others many of them would willingly have lynched.

Them old Southern Democrats, them good ole boys. Happy Days!

I’m not sure if Carwyn Jones is a fan of the Marx Brothers, but one of Groucho’s quips seems so appropriate, both for him and for his party: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them . . . well, I have others”.

Carwyn Jones’ semestris horribilis has left him discredited and his party floundering. The rest of us laughing. Can he really hang on until 2021? Personally, I don’t much care whether he hangs on or steps down, for he has damaged his party badly, while his own reputation is irrevocably tarnished.

So I can’t see publishers fighting to give him an advance on his memoirs now, and as for the blockbuster with George Clooney playing, ‘Carwyn! – the man who shat on everybody!’ well, it’s a non-starter. A guest appearance on Jonathan is about the best he can hope for now.

That said, he’s probably improved his chances of a peerage. Which for him, is probably a good result.

What more do you need to know about Wales, and our relationship with England? Or about the Labour Party? Or about Carwyn Jones?

The comparison with the Democratic Party in the US is not stretching things in the slightest, but hits the nail on the head. It wasn’t just in the 60s and 70s, though. Today the Democrat Party avoids annihilation by garnering the black vote, which it can only do for as long as it can continue to persuade black Americans that they are a disadvantaged and oppressed people with nothing to aspire to unless they benefit from affirmative action. As soon as black Americans start to realise that they’re as good as anyone else, with the same opportunities and abilities as anyone else, and can make something of themselves… then the Democrats are toast.

In exactly the same way, Labour can only survive in Wales by keeping people down; by persuading them that they’re second-rate, second-class people with nothing to aspire to apart from benefitting from Labour’s largesse. The moment that people in Wales realise that they have something to be proud of – that they’re as good as anyone else and can take on the world on their own terms – then the Labour Party will be dead and buried, and good riddance to bad rubbish.

I suppose you’re right in that comparison but I was thinking more of the old Democratic Party encompassing rednecks, liberals and Civil Rights activists in much the same way as today’s Labour Party tries to appeal to the Brexit white working class, ethnic minorities, left wing activists and the dinner party groups of Islington.

In both cases, circles that cannot be squared. The problem was solved for the Democratic Party when Southern whites eventually decided to put the Civil War behind them and switch their allegiance to the Republicans. Jimmy Carter in 1976 – when he took all the Southern states – was the last hurrah for the Democrats in the South.

For Labour the problem remains, which is one reason we hear talk of a new centrist party, which of course would not appeal to the Brexit heartlands. Which means Labour has massive problems that will become more apparent in the next few years.

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16/05/2018 23:14

Guest

Eos Pengwern

I take your point Jac – it was different time. But the US Democrats really are the racist party par excellence: in the Old South they represented the interests of white supremacy, feeding off the bitterness felt by whites against the Republicans for bringing black emancipation after the Civil War. When the time came that not even the whites believed in white supremacy any more and forgave the Republicans, the Democrats resorted to persuading black people that they were still second-rate and needed them to fight their corner. Despicable, cynical politics. So reminiscent of our Welsh Labour Party. I don’t understand how black Americans have fallen for it, any more than I understand how the Welsh fell for it. I can only explain it in terms of a lack of alternatives.

As a child of the Sixties . . . It will surprise no one to learn that my sympathies were with Malcolm X and the Black Panthers rather than the now beatified Martin Luther King.

Malcolm X appealed to me because of his ‘Stop blaming Whitey’ approach, which urged black people to confront their own failings rather than constantly blame others. Yes, I bang on about English rule and colonialism but I’m not blind to the shortcomings of my own people. A lot of Plaid Cymru and Labour supporters should try this approach.

While the Black Panthers detested no one more than patronising white liberals, being happier dealing with outright racists, because then they knew where they stood. In a strange way, it’s about honesty and sincerity. I feel the same about leftists’ liberals and Greens who are ever so ‘supportive’ until it gets down to the nitty-gritty of colonialism, independence, and them thinking we should be grateful they’ve chosen to live among us.

I don’t feel betrayed because I’m really not surprised. He served what he believes to be his nation – we know that he perceives that nation to be Britain/UK. In which case hes served his nation well as a colonial governor. Remarkably restrained on Lee Waters though,Jac. He’s been spouting a load of shite on Twitter these last few days about Wales getting extra powers.

As for Labour’s position in Scotland and Wales being different – Union has to be seen to be on both sides because if Labour and Tories did in Scotland what they did in Wales the SNP would have a field day. Labour and Tories have always been able to work collectively to put the Union before their ideologies – we saw it in the way they dealt with the Scottish IndyRef.

It may surprise you to learn that I don’t follow Lee Waters on Twitter. Did he list these ‘extra powers’?

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17/05/2018 01:12

Guest

Brychan

Yes, but you can choose whether to follow him on twitter.
I have to follow him on the M4, all the way from junction 48 to 33.

It’s where he goes after holding placards to save Prince Phillip Hospital in Llanelli all the way back to his home where his family can see the gleaming tower of UHW which gets all the cash, choppers, ambulances and doctors.

The only extra powers he’s bestowed to Wales is a big blue sign saying London 200miles.

Are you suggesting that he doesn’t live in his Llanelli constituency? I am shocked!

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17/05/2018 09:55

Guest

Brychan

Travelling in the reverse direction on a Friday evening, it’s possible to take a nifty short cut. Off at Jct 48, and use the cut through to Felinfoel then over the hill to Trimsaran. It’s a dangerous road, and you need to beware of red haired women in cars that don’t have indicators. That’ll be the Plaid Cymru candidate doing the journey in the opposite direction. Still, it’s better than standing on the platform at Cardiff Central and telling Jason Mohamed that the Manchester train is on platform zero. Laff!

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17/05/2018 11:19

Guest

CambroUiDunlainge

Neither do I. Still seems to turn up now and again though for the stupid things he comes out with. But no… he did not say anything about what those extra powers were but from the looks hes trying to say if it had gone to court then devolution in Wales would have been curtailed.

So according to Waters all the parties in Scotland – bar the Tories, obviously – have got it wrong? The fools, why don’t they listen to him?

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17/05/2018 20:04

Guest

CambroUiDunlainge

…and his own party leader at that. He’s just not a politician to put in bluntly.

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18/05/2018 00:50

Guest

Wrexhamian

Diolch yn fawr i chi, a superb analysis.
There is now so much dirt sticking to Welsh Labour, and CJ in particular, that Plaid Cymru should be able to go for the jugular. It’s all low-hanging fruit. Leanne had a stab at it with her attack on the cave-in over the Brexit power grab, and the Senedd almost became interesting. Will Plaid press their advantage and sustain the assault? Somehow, I don’t think so.

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17/05/2018 00:12

Guest

Tim Saunders

To call Carwyn Jones a betrayer is to assume that he ever had a loyalty to anything other than his own prosperity. Evidence for such a proposition has yet to be advanced. A spectacularly unimpressive performer in court, he desperately needed to give up the day job: his country’s legislature opened an escape route for him.

The comparison with the States of the ci-devant Confederacy has long intrigued me. It is chiefly sheer psephological inertia which has kept UKIP from not doing better than they have in this country, that and the low calibre of so many of their candidates. The memory of ‘that Mr. Lincoln’ kept most white Southerners from voting Republican for generations, and I do not see a significant number of Welsh voters admitting to voting Tory as long as the memory of Thatcher remains. However, since the Red Rose of England Unionist Party act as the Tories’ enthusiastic proxies, to do such would be an act of supererogation.

Thank you for shedding some light on what to those of us outsiders are the very murky depths of Welsh politics. I can sort of understand (not approve of!) Welsh Lab’s approach : If you’re faced with a strong master (England), maybe it’s better to play the fawning puppy-dog than bite the hand that feeds you at the risk of being put down. Holyrood has just refused to give Westminster permission to carry out their Brexit power grab, only to be told that “refusal amounts to approval”, Crisis? What crisis? Interesting times 😉

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17/05/2018 09:35

Guest

Wynne

Analysis spot on, and who will replace Carwyn. Who will fit into his shoes !! Who will clear up the mess left behind.

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17/05/2018 11:23

Guest

Neil Singleton

Those of us who were employed by Bridgend County Bororough Council remember Carwyn Jones as a totally ineffective Councillor, operating under the mantra of “if I don’t do anything, I can’t make any mistakes.” As a member of several committees, he turned up month after month and said absolutely nothing. When the Chairman called a vote, he used to look around the table and wait for the rest of the Labour Group to put there hands up before voting himself. He didn’t exactly cover himself with glory as Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development (including the Environment). It was Jones who famously announced in 2005 that Wales would be “Zero Carbon” by 2011. Rumour had it that his speech actually read “Carbon Neutral” but he misread it and subsequently refused to recant. Either way, here we are in 2018 and Wales is neither Zero Carbon or Carbon Neutral (difficult to even contemplate while Port Talbot Talbot Steel Works is still operating). Moving on, JC was appointed Counsel General in the Welsh Assembly during the Labour Plaid coalition. Counsel General is a real sinecure, the post holder having no staff, no budget and minimal responsibility………ideal for not dropping any bollockses whilst eyeing up the First Ministers post. The rest, as they say, is history, and his slipperiness and aptitude for ducking and diving are now legendary (?). However, can any of the current incompetent Labour dross do any better. We know the answer.

Lord Jones of Bryntirion and Penyfai ? might be enough of a mouthful to warrant sitting on umpteen 3rd sector boards, H.A’s and similar organisations who will be happy to reward him for his past generosity and future connections. He has the potential to become a serious old school Labour mafia grandee facilitating all sorts of “mutually beneficial” arrangements between various segments of the Labour web and identifying carefully selected individuals who can be drawn into it, again for mutual benefit. Unless this country has the collective balls to get up and tip the whole cart over we will be saddled with this parasite for decades.

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17/05/2018 12:14

Guest

Penclawdd Donk

I have a horrible feeling that CJ’s duplicity is not over. There’s a bit of a do in London this weekend and good old Mrs Mountbatten likes to give out gifts that don’t cost her very much, but the rest of us loads. Husband, Duke of Edinburgh, boy one,Cornwall, boy two, York, boy three, somewhere I cant be bothered to google, Billy, Cambridge. You see where I’m going with this? Well my money is on that CJ and Cairns have got there heads together and offered the only one that dose anything, The Duke of Denbigh. This will do two jobs, the guarantee of a seat on a red leather bench and three hundred quid a day, cheep booze and grub and assorted fripperies for both of them and giving Skates a replacement for his ‘Ring of Iron’.
I hope I’m wrong, but, I can’t see Nicola giving a nod to The duke of Glasgow, she may but too only nut Betty, either way, the whole of Scotland will rise up. Meanwhile here in Cymru far to many will say ‘Oh that’s nice.

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17/05/2018 13:17

Guest

Dafis

Stupid bugger, you know they read this blog and get their contrarian ideas when the adverse reaction sets in. Before long we’ll have the Denbigh Duke, Earl Sir Gar, C(o)unt Caernarvon ( note the v), Marquis Meirioneth, and in the name of equality that all faiths get recognition we will be blessed with the First Mullah of Montgomery, probably a redundant Cof E canon shifted aside for having a nasty liking for choirboys.

Too true, CJ and the titch from the Vale will be lined up for ermine, CJ will be available for fitting as soon as he leaves the FM office while Cairns will be out on his ear when May’s government implodes.

There is nothing false about the Labour Party – they are the utter bastards you think they are.

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18/05/2018 11:40

Guest

Dafis

He could change his teeth, but he won’t change Labour !

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18/05/2018 13:46

Guest

Cymru Rydd

I think Carwyn Jones is very similar to Theresa May in essence, in the sense they wanted to BE something rather than DO something. I.E they both wanted the top job, but then had no ideas, vision, or dreams that they wanted to enact once they reached their goal. Getting there was the big thing.

It’s just symptomatic of the managerial culture which has infested our political life in Cymru and the rest of these isles for a generation or so.It might not be a popular thing to say, but Maggie Thatcher was the last genuine political leader we have had- someone who actually believed in ideas and wanted to achieve change- you know, the qualities we used to associate with our politicians?

I think politicians in these isles have been infected by the technocratic and bureaucratic mentality of Brussels over the past generation, where the emphasis is on a top-down managerial approach, with no room for a real exchange of ideas and debate about the direction of society. This is to be seen in the way that the political class here have sought to subvert Brexit at every opportunity. People in these isles wanted real economic and social change, but the politicians have become so habituated to Brussels managerialism, they are simply incapable of responding to ordinary people’s demands. It seems to me that some sort of popular revolt can’t be far off as things stand at present.

As for Carwyn Jones, the bland brief from Bridgend- was there ever such a giveaway as to his real nature as those words to Alun Cairns, signalling that he was ready to stand by for duty on the bridge opening?

Rhodri Morgan once said that his greatest achievement as First Minister was “Getting the Ryder Cup to Wales”.

Carwyn Jones would probably say ” Being there at the opening of the Prince Charles Bridge”

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18/05/2018 12:28

Guest

Dafis

Well reasoned and presented description of the nature of Jones and May – both quite indecisive, yet error prone when they actually decide to move on anything. Jones has some traces of personality but that doesn’t stop him going off the rails habitually, May is stuck in some adolescent time warp like a bitchy 6th former who’s been given a little bit of power, doesn’t know how to use it so lashes out in any old direction. Both nasty bits of work and probably manipulated by even nastier scheming bastards behind the scenes.

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18/05/2018 13:45

Guest

Brychan

The problem that exists both with Carwyn and May was foretold in the ‘fixed term parliament debate’ in the Westminster House a few years ago. It was the SNP who raised the issue. The issue is, when a ‘ruling party’ does not have an overall majority in the elected chamber, is that it becomes a “paralysed zombie”. This is what we have, both in London and in Cardiff.

Prior to fixed term parliaments, it the Prime Minister in London had no overall majority and there was a ‘crisis’. Then he/she could just dissolve the Westminster House and ‘let the people decide’. In 1974 (energy crisis and coal strike) Edward Heath did exactly that. He posed the question ‘Who runs the country?”. The peoples response was ‘Not You’. A minority Labour government was elected to do stuff, and then, to get a mandate, dissolved parliament again, to have another general election to get a majority.

Although May had a ‘stop gap’ election last year, she failed to get a mandate and cobbled together an undemocratic alliance with the DUP. It hasn’t solved the problem. Brexit is not a ‘process’. It’s a crisis, constitutional, economic, and identity (northern Ireland, Scot idyref2).

In Wales, we just have a ‘carrier bag’ government. One which does anything the viceroy demands, even the name of a road bridge, and flushes cash into the middle classes of the third sector to appease the ‘disgusted of Llansiant-on-Peterson-Super Ely’, tries to run the health service by faux consultations and quackery call centres, tries to run the education system by turning schools into holiday flats, and has an economic strategy of piling debt onto the public sector called ‘city deals’ more accurately described as ‘lets do a Detroit’.

Today, all Brit bollocks will have eyes on a royal wedding. Westminster (and possibly Cardiff) will try to sneak through a few ministerial announcements hidden by the fog of bunting. The real crisis, however, will not be dealt with.

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19/05/2018 08:07

Guest

Dafis

Welcome back from “planned maintenance” did the fitter remember to take his spanner or is it still in the works ? Those were the days, stop for maintenance, how long will it take ? never you mind it’ll take as long as we need to get to Murrayfield and back!

To more serious matters of State. I see from your tweets that Mike Parker started taking the piss about McEvoy@s Propel initiative citing Farage as a metaphor for “contemptible”. Now that’s a bit sad because it’s not that long ago that some Labour pup was having a dig at Mike about some old comments he had passed about immigrants into Mid Wales and other parts of our country. At that time loads of us rallied to Mike’s defence and I find it sickening that he now goes off on one presumably to show loyalty to Leanne, who in turn would prefer to suck up to a Labour muppet than rally round one of her party’s own any day. Are all these people becoming cross eyed, blinkered or what, that they don’t see where the real challenge is coming from and where energy needs to be focussed ?.

There have been some mutterings with some London folk to rename Tower Bridge – CALIPH OF LONDONISTAN BRIDGE. Why not I say! The locals should have some say in the matter.

Prince of Wales bridge is a good idea! PONT LLYWELYN AP GRUFFUDD sounds great to me!!! But let’s have a democratic vote on the name. Oh! we have…….38,000 against the name chosen by Carwyn and how many voted for Carwyn, the fat British Fabian git’s choice?

Islam (as a faith and the various Islamic cultures) in Wales is not British. It is Welsh and distinct. This is despite attempts by the British government (and modern Islamists with a political agenda) to create some kind of racial classification. Cardiff has a long history of Islamic settlement and it arises from its role as a seaport. Both the Harris Navigation Steam Coal Company and subsequently David Davies Llandinam who owned a number of ‘Ocean’ collieries had employees of the Muslim faith employed in Cardiff docks on equal pay and conditions.

The coal trade of the 19th century was global, built of Welsh ingenuity prior to the destructive and exploitative British imperial wars and Welsh ports often traded with the free Ottomans. Cardiff Coal Exchange would have seen Welsh entrepreneurs enlisting Muslim sales reps, financed by Jewish loans, for coal hewn by Welsh non-conformist colliers transported on canals and docks built by Catholic Navvies. And the British government want to lecture Wales about integration? Fuck off.

Also, in 1847 during the Irish famine an Ottoman Sultan in line with Islamic faith (real charity) despatched four ships containing dates and grains for famine relief to various Irish ports breaking the British embargo. Those ships were provided and navigated by the Welsh enterprise through offshore arrangement. There’s a memorial to this event in Drogheda. Yet we see no such memorial in Cardiff for such events, and our children are only taught ‘British’ history in our schools. Wales should never see Islam through the lens of the British. Wales can view Islam in our own terms of reference, as an independent country. It might also help if Plaid Cymru stopped victimising the Welsh nationalist Arab with an Irish name, and then try giving faux lectures about diversity.

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23/05/2018 09:43

Guest

Dafis

I agree with much of what you say. I was in a role back in early-mid 70’s where I had much to do with employment of a multi racial workforce, mostly commonwealth origin. Muslims featured, Somalis and other African subSaharan groups whose home countries were often far more troubled than industrial South Wales. I never experienced any difficulty with any of those groups that was exclusive to them. If there was a bit of strife it involved native (white) labour as well as other races/cultures/religions.

Fast forward and the picture is different. There is a surly confrontational element to be found and quite easily too. Whether this is rooted in any homeland issue, or in the failed expectations having come to this land of plenty and found the good jobs are often beyond reach, or in some latent militancy is something I cannot figure out precisely. Perhaps it is a variable mix of all 3 plus other factors thrown in.

One other factor that cannot be ignored is the often exploitative attitudes of modern managers ( still mostly white native ) who themselves are driven by an aggressive culture of money, cost, and profit. Although they may be well educated they are often ill equipped in real skills and emotional intelligence to “lead people”. Indeed this characteristic is common across the broad mix of Welsh and British leadership in business and particularly in politics. Men and women wrapped up in their own importance eager to tell the public what to do, no idea how it should be done and utterly unwilling to confront responsibility for performance, failure, remedies or rectification. CJ and May are 2 current examples. We could work around them if they were rare cases but their rafts of subordinates are just as fuckin’ useless !

Final point to draw from Brychan’s note is the valid one about education. Teaching our young people that we have been here before when it comes to diversity would be far more useful than loading them up with a timeline of British Imperial grandeur and the general mess inflicted on Europe and the rest of the world by the colonial and neo-colonial adventures of assorted ruling classes. Gwilym has often spoken about the need to re discover the real history, the rich body of information,not spin, that tells us what we had and in some cases what what we lost. .